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Monday morning

Good morning all and as I think I am first one up pinch punch and all that. What happened to April where did it go? It is still pretty chilly here and we had some rain overnight but not enough to really do any good I don't think. We are however, forecast more rain for today. I have a pot of sage plants looking rather sad which I deliberately didn't water yesterday in anticipation of the rain but it still looks sad this morning so it hasn't had enough water. I also held off filling the pond but I think I will have to bite the bullet and put the hose in it. I really ought to know the literage of the pond but at a rough estimate it holds 12,000 litres and I only know this because it has 12 kilos of salt in it and the rate is usually 1 kilo per 1,000 litres. Anyway lots of water!!!!

I set of bright and early and did some shopping at Macnades where I bought lots of lovely stuff as well as the coffee which was the reason for the trip. I bought an assortment of mushrooms including ceps which we had for supper last night with some chicken, pasta and cream. In the butchery department I got some cubed venison for a pie and some lovely veal chops as well as pork chops and lamb neck fillets so my freezer is full again. I was hoping that they would have the lovely black watch scotch eggs but there was only one left so instead I bought some duck eggs which we had for lunch with fresh English asparagus to dip in the creamy yolks. What a difference in the asparagus it was just wonderful and full of flavour so unlike the spanish/chilean which tastes of nothing. It seems to be important to eat asparagus as fresh as possible and the local stuff is picked at first light so it really is fresh if the sun hits it the buds they begin to open and ruin it. As you probably realise I am a bit partial to asparagus but only if I can get the real mccoy. As the season is very short I try to eat as much as possible while it is available. We are fortunate in having several asparagus farms locally they used to sell off 5lb bags of sprue which was ideal for soup making but I haven't seen that yet.

I have found a home for the last of the cake the dogs love it and as it has no dried fruit in it it is quite safe if not very healthy. Neither of them has a weight problem so I can get away with giving it to them. Mind you the crafty devils leave their food untouched until we have eaten just on the off chance there might be something better from our leftovers. The work surface in the kitchen is just nose height for Dan so he runs his nose along it to check what might be on the menu. Touch wood he has never stolen anything ever even though he could so easily. My big chunk of beef has been sat out defrosting and though he has pointed at it he hasn't touched it.

Well that's about it for this morning it is still very grey and I am sure we are in for more rain. Have a good day all and I hope you at least manage to stay dry.

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